This Woman Flew an F-35 Simulator with Her Mind

MEMBER

Jan Scheuermann, a quadriplegic and pioneering patient for an experimental Pentagon robotics program, continues to break ground in freeing the mind from the body.

The 55-year-old mother of two in 2012 agreed to let surgeons implant electrodes on her brain to control a robotic arm. More recently, she flew an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter simulator using nothing but her thoughts, an official said.

Arati Prabhakar, director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, cited the breakthrough last week at the first annual Future of War conference. The event was organized by the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, D.C.

MEMBER

That is amazing, the only problem... would that not put pressure on a persons brain? I mean, the person would have to be using seriously major self control and thought processes. They are not using naturally instinctive brain process to move their own body body parts. They are using actual thought processes to control external parts. I guess overtime a person who is moving these items will become natural to it, but WOW that is incredible. Think of the possibilities.

SENIOR MEMBER

I wonder how this will change the future of warfare? We won't have to send soldiers into the battlefield anymore? You just have a number of people fly planes across the world, drop bombs and fly them right back. Wouldn't that be great? But I doubt that this has anything to do with the electrodes implanted in the woman's brain.

THINK TANK

Brain-computer interfaces open up a plethora of possibilities, ranging from helping the physically disabled to exosuits for military use and fully immersive virtual reality. To offer a rudimentary explanation, this works by translating neural signals to commands which are then be executed by a computer, not any kind of "psychic" ability.

A potential problem is that invasive procedures such as the one in the article will not work for everyone, and there is a chance that implants will be rejected by the body.

THINK TANK

Really? What if she fires in a situation that doesn't require firing? Such thing is very hard to control. It will require a lot of training and effort. an effort that will fail at the end for the fact that human mind is very hard to have full control on.

NEW RECRUIT

So, it took her 2 years to fly this plane? Wow! I'm shocked and amazed. My only concern would be the effects on the brain because it's foreign. I am a little creeped out by it at the same time. The possibilities seem limitless, but this technology in the wrong hands would be a disaster.

MEMBER

Really? What if she fires in a situation that doesn't require firing? Such thing is very hard to control. It will require a lot of training and effort. an effort that will fail at the end for the fact that human mind is very hard to have full control on.

I agree. A person would have to be seriously emotionally controlled. If they even have a moment of anger, fear, or anxiety they could fire unintentionally. The only way to even remotely offset that would be to program it to take actual vocal command or to take a concentrated thought command, but even then it leaves a huge margin of error.

MEMBER

If Stephen Hawkins can speak despite having ALS, then I find this news fascinating but not altogether surprising. This is actually giving us a glimpse of tomorrow's weapons besides holograms, android robots and drones: mind-simulated planes, warships and tanks.

MEMBER

I just think this is amazing guys! Imagine the technological advance if we could be able to fully control a fighter jet. Imagine how little the casualties would be. Imagine the posibilities, the brand new strategies. Imagine the design of the next generatin fighter jets if they won't have to carry the pilot inside them, they will take handling to a whole new level.

MEMBER

Or it can increase causalities. Rule of thumb when it comes to war. Those who don't see don't feel. If you send soldiers into a village based on intel, they will be able to determine if the villagers are hostiles or being held hostage. Then they can eliminate the actual threats. You send someone over in a bomber that they are mind controlling from cushy room, you take them away from the battle. You take away their ability to see the horror that the war is causing. As a result, they no longer care. So even more people will die because people will no longer become important, they are just targets at that point.